Bigfoot: The Implications of Discovery

Someone asked me just recently: what will happen if, one day, we find conclusive evidence that Bigfoot really does exist? Well, the first – and quite natural – assumption that springs to my mind is that those of us who spend so much of our time looking for such monstrous things will finally get vindication that we weren’t wasting our precious time, after all! But, there are bigger issues at stake than that. Actually, they are much bigger, and far more serious than the average cryptozoologist getting congratulated on a job well done…

Many eye-witnesses claim Bigfoot – when seen up close and personal – appears to have definitively human characteristics, and particularly so in its facial appearance. On this very same track, what if Bigfoot is not an unknown ape, but actually some sort of proto-human, an early offshoot of the Human Race that, against all the odds and countless millennia, has survived extinction and avoided capture?

If such is the case, does that mean they should be given rights and recognized status as citizens of the United States? That may sound laughable, crazy and extreme to some of you reading this, but – given the theoretical possibilities cited above – can we actually rule out such a remote possibility ever becoming a reality?

And what if some over-eager hunter decided one day to shoot one of the creatures? Having the head of a deer on your living room wall is one thing. But it’s quite another to have to the head of a primitive man mounted right next to it.

In such a situation, I don’t rule out the possibility that if someone did shoot and kill a Bigfoot, and it was shown to be genetically linked to us in some capacity, then murder charges might be looming just around the corner for our unfortunate hunter.

Then there’s the matter of where the creatures live. If Bigfoot, one day, is proved to exist and is given some degree of legal protection and status as a result, what of the locations that it inhabits? Might they too become protected? Could they even become out of bounds to just about each and every one of us?

Such a situation might mean no more picnics, no more strolls in the woods, no more camping, and no more hunting – just in case someone mistakenly shot and killed a Bigfoot while out hunting for something else.

And: what about the logging industry? Whole swathes of the country – particularly so in the Pacific Northwest – are deeply reliant on logging for revenue. How would they collectively react to the news, and possibly even outright government legislation, that the forests of the United States are now out of bounds, that trees can no longer be cut down, and that whole areas are to become legally inaccessible, for fear of threatening the existence of a sub-species of us, the Human Race?

We could even go down a distinctly conspiratorial path and suggest that some of the stories about certain elements of the U.S. Government knowing that Bigfoot is real – but hiding the facts from the public – are absolutely, and incredibly, true.

After all, such secrecy and silence doesn’t necessarily mean that the government has discovered some dark and deep secret about Bigfoot. Rather, the closed mouth approach might very well stem from a fear of the hypothetical situations I described above actually developing in the real world.

I sincerely hope that one day we will finally, and unequivocally, know the truth behind the Bigfoot phenomenon, and we will have an answer with regard to what these creatures are or are not. But, I strongly suspect that if that day does arrive, the controversy won’t be over. In fact, I suspect it will have barely begun.

Nick Redfern works full time as a writer, lecturer, and journalist. He writes about a wide range of unsolved mysteries, including Bigfoot, UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, alien encounters, and government conspiracies. Nick has written 41 books, writes for Mysterious Universe and has appeared on numerous television shows on the The History Channel, National Geographic Channel and SyFy Channel.

The mitochondrial (female line) DNA of several bigfoot creatures from the Pacific NW has been identified as homo sapiens. Melba Ketchum claims to have worked on the nuclear (male line) DNA, but her work has not been published. It’s almost unavoidable to deduce that the creatures are some kind of “human”. And it’s drearily predictable that the powers that be will do the wrong thing when the reliable information is made public. I’m glad that Dr. Sykes in in England: he’s safer there.

Ray G.

Very good overview. I would add at least one or two more, and they’re biggies: the potential reverberations such a discovery would have on religion–specifically fundamentalism, whether East and West. As would surely happen with formal disclosure re UFOs, how would the Bible/Koran thumpers explain (or explain away) such a creature like Bigfoot?

And just as Darwin forced a philosophical reevaluation of our privileged standing in the scheme of things, how would the discovery of a very human-like creature–even closer to us in kind than the great apes–affect our understanding of ourselves, spiritually, intellectually, biologically? Could be earthshaking, I suspect.

But after watching the latest BBC documentary about the Antikythera Mechanism (which manages to expose how truly technologically shocking it is [while diligently treating it as a glorious one-off and ignoring all the ‘tall stories’ and ‘fairy tales’ strewn all through Ancient Greek Egyptian Sumerian Indian etc ‘mythology’ concerning mechanical ‘men’ aerial ‘cars’ sentient ‘boats’ far-seeing ‘mirrors’ and so on]) I’m left with the growing sense our own technological developments’re so rapidly outstripping our theories of what we only BELIEVE constitutes reality (viz the sticky tape and chewing gum of dark matter and energy barely holding together what astronomers theorised was the case as opposed to what the space borne telescopes actually detect) we’re on the verge of a monumental catastrophic shock to our cultural ego.

Imagine not only the possibility the reason why all such DNA tests on samples so far come up ‘human’ is because Bigfoot ARE human.

But what’ll people make of reports of monkeys being able to distinguish actual words on screens (not to mention apes and dolphins ultilising iPads) if representatives of Bigfoot come forward and say – actually SAY – now you’ve finally sufficiently gotten in your cotton picking heads the possibility we’re at least as sentient as you to pass laws to protect our kind from your kind we’re go’n’o tell you just how low you really are on the evolutionary scale of things…just how much you don’t know…how much you’ve forgotten.

Imagine if Bigfoot really ARE related to the technologically clever ‘trolls’ and ‘giants’ who’re the go-to guys of the gods and heroes populating every mythological schema on the planet.

Even in the Gilgamesh epic most people’re aware Enkidu might be some sort of Bigfoot type critter but there’s another critter in there called Humbaba (described as the guardian of the forests) who actually rebukes Enkidu for helping the human god called Gilgamesh kill him when the two of them’ve got so much more in common – ie the implication’s Humbaba’s an even older form of what Enkidu is.

Imagine then if any of these Bigfoot’ve maintained an oral tradition culture – the things they could tell us…

Niceform

Am I the only one out here that has heard the stories of the giants of the Solomon Islands? What else could these creatures be except Bigfoot?
If ANYONE who is fairly well funded wants to get to the bottom of this mystery, then just go to the Solomons and look around and ask questions.
It sounds to me like the land is teeming with the phenomena – and all the natives are aware of the situation.
And just in case I am the only one that has heard this, please refer to the link here – http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/giants/solomon-giants.htm – and check it out for yourself.
You may not like the “drift” of the article site – all UFO-y and all; but, I’ve seen this information in Nexxus Magazine and other sources years ago and where it is presented shouldn’t matter, if there’s truth in there.
I can’t afford to go look for myself; but, I see more and more groups spending a whole lot of money trying to find the these things here and there where they are extremely rare (or non-existent) and that spending, to me, quickly becomes wasteing. Go where they are known to be actually colonized and get your evidence for heaven’s sake.
Oh, and then please let us know what’s there…if the militaries (U.S. and Australian) will allow you on the Island in the first place.
Come on.

Vpanoptes

Hmmm, interesting speculation. If I were a fellow inclined to wagering, I would give you pretty fair odds that you still won’t have answers to these questions in 5 years. or 10. Or 20.

If they turn out to be human..then they are in deep doo-doo. I could see them being labeled as dangerous vagrants..living on state/federal lands without permission, without paying taxes and with any control as to how they come and go and where they choose to reside. Then the stories of abducted women and children may become more salient and then they are labeled as dangerous and in need of regulations and management!? They truly would be better off if they can avoid the moniker..’human’.

Tom Naff

“Discovered” or not, this animal has managed to survive every human invention and intervention. Discovery means nothing to the animal – they have been here for as long as we have, if not longer. Perhaps a “no contact” order should be enacted; for our benefit, not theirs…

I tend to agree … we (humans) do not have a great track record when it comes to learning to live with, and protecting the cultures of, others we consider “primitive”. While I applaud Nick’s optimism for feeling that we would do the right thing by our hairy cousins, history tells us otherwise.

Perhaps, Bigfoot, Yeti, Yowie, Sasquatch, is smarter than we think and wants to remain a mystery to us for a very good reason.

Long live the mystery!

Sgtabester

There is nothing to worry about. Wouldn’t matter if he was a citizen or not. Wouldn’t matter if he was human or not. Loggers wouldn’t have to worry. Hunters wouldn’t have to worry, and Bigfoot doesn’t need any special protection. Why, simply because if he was that easy to document, hunt, or any other of these issues we would already have positive proof he exists, Hunters would already have them on the wall, and some lawyer would’ve already informed all the bigfoot except for that unlucky type specimen of thier rights under the US Constitution.

google

everything has the right too live, they will probley want to carve them up. The Big foot people on tv make so much noise in the woods, They can’t catch their shadow. Did anyone ever notice how much time they spend filmming their own faces. These people are a big. Know wonder they can’t find BIG FOOT

Eileen Rose

Yes, I could let go of visiting all forest-lands they inhabit.

That is one vote for Sasquatch.

Anymore?

And why couldn’t we share the forest….I mean establish communication with them?

just a thought
..as obviously we did once share the forest with them or at least Native tribes seem to have. They just weren’t there to tear the forest into some sort of disney retreat.

Bodeneth

In reference to the ludicrous statement above about how someone who kills an ancient relative or subspecies of Humans might end up facing murder charges…..That’s impossible, it can’t happen. While they may be n trouble for violating hunting or other related wildlife statutes, in the USA all MURDER laws apply only to homo sapiens/Human beings, and we can reasonably assume that bigfoot won’t turn out to be a homo sapien.

Other than in those very few jurisdictions where laws have already been enacted in regards to harassing or killing a bigfoot, there are no laws against killing mythological or fairy tale beasts. Until bigfoot has been scientifically proven to exist and accepted by mankind as a fact, they will remain a mythological or fairy tale beast in the minds of the powers that be. As such, if a fairy tale or mythological beast is killed and thereby proven to be real, you can’t pass a law today and apply it to events that happened yesterday, at least in the good ol’ USA.

Now, all that having been said…while I do not support the idea that any beast that most likely will turn out to be an endangered species should be widely hunted, I strongly feel that ONE of them must be killed and studied and shown to the world. Then, immediately, it should be made a serious felony to kill any more of them. Before we can protect them, we must first prove they exist and study the remains extensively to figure out what it is genetically and where it fits in the grand scheme of things. While some may argue against killing one, or in some cases even capturing one, in my opinion killing one would be a more humane option. A captured bigfoot would likely go insane with fury and harm or kill others or itself if given half a chance. That, to me, is an unattractive option, even when weighed against the killing of one of the wondrous creatures. Why anyone would be against killing ONE, in order to protect a species, is beyond me. They obviously haven’t put much thought into the dreadful liabilities, both legally and morally, that we’d be facing if we captured one and set out to poke and prod it into insanity while studying it alive.

Charles Bootjer

I hate to break it to you but your statement, “we can reasonably assume that bigfoot won’t turn out to be a homo sapien.” appears to be in error. The taxon for “Sasquatch or Bigfoot” , as registered in ZooBank is: Homo sapiens cognatus. Three Complete Nuclear Genomes of that creature were sequenced by the University of Texas DNA Laboratory, for the Sasquatch Genome Project.
Perhaps that statement you said is ludicrous, is in fact TRUE.
Bigfoot DNA Believer

sam

I’m sorry when was the last time we were allowed to shoot down a certain race of homo sapiens just to PROVE they existed. There are amazon tribes in south america that barely made contact with humans in the 1st world. Are we suppose to march into their land and shoot one and display their corpse at museums?? Or shooting down a native american to prove they once exsited?

These Wild people have children, they play with their children, they forage for food and bring them back to their families. You have NO RIGHT to shoot them down. Capture one? maybe but you will be facing human rights complaints…

if it takes someone to purposefully shoot one of these people down for others to BELIEVE i’d rather be called a quack the rest of my life and be happy with NO CORPSE EVER discovered. My god.. people have no hearts